any of my grand people.

"My mother's master was named Lewis Hale. He was a farmer. He was fairly
good himself but the overseers wasn't. They have mistreated my mother.
All I know is what I heard, of course; I wasn't old enough to see for
myself. My mother was a field hand. She worked on the farm. My father
did the same thing.

"My father and mother belonged to different masters. I forgot now who my
father said he belonged to. My father didn't live on the same plantation
with my mother. He just came and visited her from time to time.


Food

"Sometimes they didn't have any food to eat. The old missis sometimes
saw that my mother's children were fed. My mother's master was pretty
good to her and her children, but my father's master was not. Food was
issued every week. They give molasses, meal, a little flour, a little
rice and along like that.


House

"My mother and father lived in old weatherboard houses. I don't know
whether all of the slaves lived in weatherboarded houses or not. But I
nursed the children and had to go from one house to the other and I know
several of them lived in weatherboarded houses. Most of the houses had
two rooms. The food that was kept by the slaves, that is the rations
given them, was kept in the kitchen part of the house.